Autonomic and muscular responses and recovery to one-hour laboratory mental stress in healthy subjects

Nilsen, Kristian Bernhard; Sand, Trond; Stovner, Lars Jacob; Leistad, Rune Bang; Westgaard, Rolf H.

doi:10.1186/1471-2474-8-81

Cited by 31 publications

(43 citation statements)

References 40 publications

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“…During these measurements, the physical load was a 45°shoulder abduction, which was a much heavier physical load compared to the mental load in that study and to the physical load in the present study. The shift toward a slightly higher instantaneous HF frequency during MT can probably be related to a higher respiration frequency, as the main peak in the HF band is normally caused by respiration (Stevenson and Ripley 1952;Nilsen et al 2007). An increased respiration frequency during a 1-h low-grade mental stress task in healthy subjects was already found in Nilsen et al (2007).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…The shift toward a slightly higher instantaneous HF frequency during MT can probably be related to a higher respiration frequency, as the main peak in the HF band is normally caused by respiration (Stevenson and Ripley 1952;Nilsen et al 2007). An increased respiration frequency during a 1-h low-grade mental stress task in healthy subjects was already found in Nilsen et al (2007). Vlemincx et al (2011) also reported an increased breathing rate during mental stress, although Bernardi et al (2000) in contrast observed a slowing down of respiration frequency.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

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Instantaneous changes in heart rate regulation due to mental load in simulated office work

et al. 2010

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The cardiac regulation effects of a mental task added to regular office work are described. More insight into the time evolution during the different tasks is created by using time-frequency analysis (TFA). Continuous wavelet transformation was applied to create time series of instantaneous power and frequency in specified frequency bands (LF 0.04-0.15 Hz; HF 0.15-0.4 Hz), in addition to the traditional linear heart rate variability (HRV) parameters. In a laboratory environment, 43 subjects underwent a protocol with three active conditions: a clicking task with low mental load and a clicking task with high mental load (mental arithmetic) performed twice, each followed by a rest condition. The heart rate and measures related to vagal modulation could differentiate the active conditions from the rest condition, meaning that HRV is sensitive to any change in mental or physical state. Differences between physical and mental stress were observed and a higher load in the combined task was observed. Mental stress decreased HF power and caused a shift toward a higher instantaneous frequency in the HF band. TFA revealed habituation to the mental load within the task (after 3 min) and between the two tasks with mental load. In conclusion, the use of TFA in this type of analysis is important as it reveals extra information. The addition of a mental load to a physical task elicited further effect on HRV parameters related to autonomic cardiac modulation.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Instantaneous changes in heart rate regulation due to mental load in simulated office work

et al. 2010

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“…Several studies have examined the physiological measures of heart rate, blood pressure and cortisol levels during mentally stressful tasks. Hjortskov et al (2004), Johnston et al (2008) and Nilsen et al (2007) reported signiWcant increases in heart rate and respiration frequency after mentally stressful tasks. Garde et al (2002) and Wahlström et al (2002) found that blood pressure increased when a mental stressor was added to the computer tasks.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…Previous studies have attempted to examine the eVects of mental workload or mental stressors on muscle activation during diVerent forms of computer work, which included Weld investigations (Hägg and Aström 1997;Rissén et al 2002;Vasseljen and Westgaard 1995;Wahlström et al 2003) and laboratory studies (Bansevicius et al 1997;Blangsted et al 2004;Finsen et al 2001;Hughes et al 2007;Johnston et al 2008;Krantz et al 2004;Leyman et al 2004;Lundberg et al 2002;McLean and Urquhart 2002;Nilsen et al 2007;Schleifer et al 2008;Van Galen et al 2002;Visser et al 2004). Many of these studies aimed to diVerentiate the eVects due to physical and mental workloads.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Effects of physical and mental task demands on cervical and upper limb muscle activity and physiological responses during computer tasks and recovery periods

2011

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The present study examined the effects of physical and mental workload during computer tasks on muscle activity and physiological measures. Activity in cervical postural muscles and distal forearm muscles, heart rate and blood pressure were compared among three tasks and rest periods of 15 min each in an experimental study design. Fourteen healthy pain-free adults participated (7 males, mean age = 23.2 ± 3.0 years) and the tasks were: (1) copy-typing ("typing"), (2) typing at progressively faster speed ("pacing"), (3) mental arithmetic plus fast typing ("subtraction"). Typing task was performed first, followed by the other two tasks in a random order. Median muscle activity (50th percentile) was examined in 5-min intervals during each task and each rest period, and statistically significant differences in the "time" factor (within task) and time × task factors was found in bilateral cervical erector spinae and upper trapezius muscles. In contrast, distal forearm muscle activity did not show any significant differences among three tasks. All muscles showed reduced activity to about the baseline level within first 5 min of the rest periods. Heart rate and blood pressure showed significant differences during tasks compared to baseline, and diastolic pressure was significantly higher in the subtraction than pacing task. The results suggest that cervical postural muscles had higher reactivity than forearm muscles to high mental workload tasks, and cervical muscles were also more reactive to tasks with high physical demand compared to high mental workload. Heart rate and blood pressure seemed to respond similarly to high physical and mental workloads.

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“…Headache patients also filled in headache diaries for the same period. Every subject answered several questionnaires including: Epworth Sleepiness Scale (13), questions adapted from Karolinska Sleep Questionnaire (14), Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) (15), Hospital Anxiety and Depression Subscales (16), and 10 questions from the Autonomic Symptom Profile (17,18). As a supplement to the Epworth (4)).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sleep quality and arousal in migraine and tension-type headache: the headache-sleep study

et al. 2014

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Objectives -The present paper summarizes and compares data from our studies on subjective and objective sleep quality and pain thresholds in tension-type headache (TTH), migraine, and controls. Material and methods -In a blinded controlled explorative study, we recorded polysomnography (PSG) and pressure, heat, and cold pain thresholds in 34 controls, 20 TTH, and 53 migraine patients. Sleep quality was assessed by questionnaires, sleep diaries, and PSG. Migraineurs who had their recordings more than 2 days from an attack were classified as interictal while the rest were classified as either preictal or postictal. Interictal migraineurs (n = 33) were also divided into two groups if their headache onsets mainly were during sleep and awakening (sleep migraine, SM), or during daytime and no regular onset pattern (non-sleep migraine, NSM). TTH patients were divided into a chronic or episodic group according to headache days per month. Results -Compared to controls, all headache groups reported more anxiety and sleep-related symptoms. TTH and NSM patients reported more daytime tiredness and tended to have lower pain thresholds. Despite normal sleep times in diary, TTH and NSM had increased slow-wave sleep as seen after sleep deprivation. Migraineurs in the preictal phase had shorter latency to sleep onset than controls. Except for a slight but significantly increased awakening index SM, patients differed little from controls in objective measurements. Conclusions -We hypothesize that TTH and NSM patients on the average need more sleep than healthy controls. SM patients seem more susceptible to sleep disturbances. Inadequate rest might be an attack-precipitating-and hyperalgesia-inducing factor.

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Autonomic and muscular responses and recovery to one-hour laboratory mental stress in healthy subjects

Abstract: Background: Stress is a risk factor for musculoskeletal pain. We wanted to explore stress related physiology in healthy subjects in order to gain insight into mechanisms of pain development which may relate to the pathophysiology of musculoskeletal pain disorders.

Cited by 31 publications

References 40 publications

Instantaneous changes in heart rate regulation due to mental load in simulated office work

Instantaneous changes in heart rate regulation due to mental load in simulated office work

Effects of physical and mental task demands on cervical and upper limb muscle activity and physiological responses during computer tasks and recovery periods

Sleep quality and arousal in migraine and tension-type headache: the headache-sleep study

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